Word of Salvation – February 2010
A GOOD OLD AGE, John Haverland
(A sermon for the New Year)
Text: Genesis 25:7-11
Readings: Gal 3:6-18; Heb 11:8-16, Gen 25:1-11
Theme: Abraham died at a good old age after a long life of faith in God and his promises.
Purpose: To use Abraham’s death to help you reflect on your own life of faith and on your hope in Christ.
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We are almost at the end of another year. (or: We are entering a New Year.) The transition from one year to another is an appropriate time for reflection; it is a good time to look back over what has happened during this past year, and to look ahead to the year that lies ahead of us.
We will do this as we look back over the long life Abraham lived and as we consider his death. As we look back over his life of faith, and examine his hope for the future, let’s look back over our own lives during this year, and let’s examine our own hopes for the future.
1. First of all, then, we LOOK BACK
a. Abraham died at 175 after a long life of trusting in God and believing his promises.
When he was 75 years old the Lord called him out of the city of Ur and sent him to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. He followed the Lord for 100 years, from the age of 75 to 175, moving about from place to place.
During the first 25 of those years he waited for God to fulfill his promise of a son. Those years were a great test of faith.
Then, some years after Isaac was born, he faced the supreme test of his faith when the Lord called him to sacrifice his only son; and he obeyed God.
This is why Hebrews 11 lists him as an outstanding example of faith. He is the most prominent person in that chapter and is given the most space and explanation. Throughout his life he continued to look to God. He trusted in him. He relied on him. He believed his promises. His dependence and reliance on God sustained him through great trials over many years.
He is an example and encouragement to us when we are tested and tried, when we face uncertainty, when we have to wait for God to fulfill his promises. We get impatient after a few weeks or months, let alone having to wait for years!
But we need to guard against making too much of Abraham as an example. The question is not, “What did Abraham do?”, but “What has Christ done?” We need to look to the Lord Jesus. After reciting the long list of the heroes of faith the writer of Hebrews directed his readers to Jesus; “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith…” (Heb 12:1f). Keep following him. He is our great example.
b. Abraham not only lived by faith he also walked in obedience.
If you read through his life you will see that he usually obeyed God promptly. When God asked him to do something he did not procrastinate, nor did he waste any time; he usually did it the very next day.
Of course, he did not always obey the Lord. On two occasions he lied about his wife Sarah saying that she was his sister, and so put her in a very compromising position.
But overall he is held up as an example of faith and obedience. A hymn sums this up in a lovely way; “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obey.”
Most of us are not all called to leave our country and travel far away. We are certainly not called on to sacrifice our children on an altar.
But each one of us is called to trust in God, to live by faith, to believe his promises, and to obey his commands – to trust and obey.
Are you doing this? Are you trusting and obeying?
c. Abraham followed the Lord right up to death .
The Bible gives us a very selective history about this man. It records the times when the Lord spoke to him, revealing himself and his will. It records the highlights of Abraham’s faith and the low points of his sins. But very little is said about the last 75 years of his life.
One writer described this period as “the sunset of a hot day of trial”. His faith had been tested and he had come through strongly, and then he continued on in that faith.
“Then Abraham breathed his last and died.“ (vs 8)
Death is always the last enemy, the final consequence of sin on this earth.
Solomon described this in Ecclesiastes 12:5,7 –
“Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about in the streets…
the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
But God is watching over us in death. The psalms are full of comfort here because they assure us that our times are in his hands. Listen to a few verses from the psalms:
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” (Ps 116:15)
“With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Ps 91:16)
“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Ps 23:6)
This is the comfort God offers to all of us as we face our own death or the death of a loved one who believes and trusts in God.
d. Abraham died “at a good old age, an old man and full of years.” (vs 8)
This fulfilled the promise God gave to him in Gen 15:15 – “You will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age.”
In Israel believers did not expect life to go on forever; they accepted that life was limited. Moses in Psalm 90 talked about “70 years, or 80 if we have the strength.”
ii. Abraham died “full of years”. This phrase translates one word in the Hebrew, the word “full”. It can also be translated as “satisfied”. Matthew Henry wrote that he died “satisfied with living here, and longing to go to a better place.” All his wants and expectations had been fulfilled.
More importantly, God had fulfilled his purpose in Abraham. He was an instrument in God’s plan and then the Lord called him home.
Paul gave us a comment on the death of King David in Acts 13:36 when he said; “When David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep and was buried with his fathers.”
We don’t have to live a long time for God to fulfill his purpose in our lives.
Many men and women in the Reformation died for their protestant faith, and many of them died young, in the prime of their lives.
The Lord sometimes calls his elect home to be with him even while they are little children, while others live to a good old age.
Being full, or satisfied, is not to be measured in length of years, but in knowing God and his mercy in Christ.
If you believe in the Lord Jesus and trust in him then you are ready to die and you can do so with confidence and hope.
Do you believe in the Lord Jesus?
Are you ready to die?
Are you ready to meet the Lord?
2. We have been looking back over Abraham’s life, and our own lives. This brings us to consider, secondly, how he LOOKED FORWARD.
a. He died looking forward to God fulfilling his promises regarding the land .
Genesis 23 described how he had bought a small piece of land in Canaan as a burial site for his wife Sarah. That cave and field of Machpelah was a deposit on the rest of the land. It expressed his confidence that one day God would fulfill his promise of the entire land.
Some 500 years later Moses led the people of Israel to the border of this land, and Joshua led the people of Israel on their conquest of Canaan to take possession of this land. The Lord then fulfilled his promise to Abraham.
b. He also died looking forward to having many descendants .
God said he would have offspring like the dust of the earth, like the sand of the seashore, like the stars of the sky.
That promise was fulfilled through his son Isaac. We read about that in verse 11; “After Abraham’s death God blessed his son Isaac”. Then there are a few verses about Ishmael, and in verse 19 we read; “This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac.”
The line of God’s covenant would continue on through Abraham’s son, and his grandson, and his great grandchildren. It would go to Isaac and then to Jacob and then to his sons.
This covenant promise eventually came to us . We are the children of Abraham. We are the sands of the seashore people. We are included in the nations who are blessed through him.
And, by God’s grace, that covenant promise is continued on to our children and grandchildren.
Abraham died looking forward to us, living here in these New Testament times, in the new covenant. God’s promises to him are fulfilled in us.
c. He died looking forward to the land, to having many descendants, and he died looking forward to Christ .
In Galatians 3:16 we read; “The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘and to seeds’, meaning many people, but ‘and to your seed’, meaning one person, who is Christ.”
We don’t know how much Abraham understood of all this, nor how clearly he saw the Messiah, the Christ. But this was the intent of God’s promise – it was a promise of the Messiah, Jesus.
This is what we have remembered at this time of the year – that the Christ came, he was born – the Son of David, from the tribe of Judah – in fulfillment of all the promises of God through the Old Testament.
Abraham died looking forward to his first coming .
When you and I die we are looking forward to his second coming . On that day the trumpet will sound, and these bodies of ours that have gone to dust will be re-formed and raised up as glorious new bodies. “All who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out.” (John 5:28) We are looking forward to that day!
d. Abraham died looking forward to the inheritance of the land, to having many descendants, to the coming of Christ, and finally, he died looking forward to heaven .
Vs 8b: “He was gathered to his people.”
That phrase reflects an early belief in the immortality of the soul. When you die your soul or spirit lives on. Your soul will go either to heaven or to hell and remain there until the final judgment.
But Abraham believed more than the truth that his soul would live on, for he “was longing for a better country – a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:16)
He lived his entire life in tents; he was a nomad, always on the move, with no fixed home. The only land he owned in Canaan was a cemetery.
“He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Heb 11:10) He was looking forward to a permanent home, not a cemetery but a home where he could live forever.
That is the expectation of all God’s people. All of us who believe are looking forward to heaven, to that New Jerusalem.
The closing of one year and the beginning of another reminds us of this hope; it reminds us that we are one year closer to home. We are one year closer to the return of our Lord Jesus.
As you look back over your own life of faith can you give thanks to God that he has watched over you and led you all these years? Can you look back over a life of trusting in God and obeying his commands?
As you look ahead to another year are you resolved to continue to trust and obey?
Are you looking forward to entering the presence of God one day at death?
Are you trusting in the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you longing for that better country, a heavenly one, where Jesus is already, preparing a place for all who love him?
Amen